As Brady gets older, the less hits he takes, the less impact the sport has on his body would allow him to play longer. Having to sit for 4 games may have helped increase his longevity. It also allowed the team to see what they have in Brissett and Jimmy G.

Though we were quite fortunate to come out of those game 3-1, it could very well have been 1-3 and the season outcome may have been different.

I think it was more so that the Patriots won in spite of deflategate, not because of it. There the is silver lining that Brady got less wear by missing a quarter of the season but we were fortunate that our backups played so well. There's also nothing to celebrate about losing draft picks that is supposed to hinder our ability to win in the future. But I think what you're hinting at is that deflategate made the Super Bowl win a little more redeeming in many ways. That I can certainly get behind.

No, we probably had one of the easier trips to the Superbowl this year because of key injuries in the AFC. The Dolphins and Raiders were non-competitive playoff teams due to QB injuries. That meant that we got to play the Texans in the divisional round (only reason why they made it through the wildcard round was they smashed a QB3 on the Raiders). And the Steelers beating the Chiefs meant that we got to play an easy zone defense that always gets blown out by Brady. We can't control who we play, but sometimes you get lucky and you take it.

Just as BB said in the press confrence the day after the SB, it is an insult to say that something was reignited in Tom Brady because of deflategate. He would've put the same amount of effort into this season if he was suspended or not.

Ignoring the whole "Brady revenge" narrative I think there's a case, albeit a weak one, that this was at best a neutral event.

Brady getting four weeks off allowed the Patriots to give Jimmy a shot to show off to interested teams. If we end up getting a first rounder or early second it could make up for our lost 2016 first rounder.

The suspension also allowed Brady to play four less games, meaning he was fresher in this season than he might have been in years past. Who knows how much it made a difference but in the end we won the super bowl.

A little less impactful: giving Jacoby Brissett 2.5 games of real experience should be somewhat important to further develop him into a good backup QB.